


What I’m Allowed To Have

by von_gelmini



Series: Red Light District [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anal Sex, Closeted Character, College Student Peter Parker, Coming Untouched, Escort Peter Parker, Gay Tony Stark, M/M, Past James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Pre-Iron Man 1, Prostitution, Sex Work, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:55:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22100647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/von_gelmini/pseuds/von_gelmini
Summary: Shit.Thatwas a look. A crop top and booty shorts. It would be comical if it wasn’t for the way the kid’s broad shoulders held the thin fabric billowing away from his stomach. If those shorts didn’t ride down on his hips. Up the crack of his ass would be trashy. But sliding down just enough to show those dimples and the start of the gentle rise of those firm cheeks?
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Series: Red Light District [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590757
Comments: 33
Kudos: 207





	What I’m Allowed To Have

It was amazing how much work he could do without sitting down to his desk. Where his screens were. Where that file he asked JARVIS to compile would be on one of them just waiting for his finger to tap it. But there was a ’61 Jaguar E-type sitting in pieces on the far side of the garage and he fucking hated British cars. They were hell to work on and never ran right even after you fixed them. They needed more babying than a goddamn baby. But she had beautiful clean lines and if you _did_ baby her, she was one of the best runners out there. Sure, there was the new missile to be worked on and Obie would have his ass if he missed yet another deadline. But that required sitting down at his desk. Which he was not going to do.

The music was deafening as he muttered commands to JARVIS through his earpiece. Pepper tried coming in but when she did, the music cranked higher and refused to accept her command code. She gave up after two minutes of her shouting being ignored. Yeah, he knew he was a bitch after nights like last one. Sue him.

He was under the car on a creeper, staring blindly at the beaten up exhaust system he was supposed to be taking apart. He couldn’t see the rusted metal. Only black netting torn across pale skin. “Fucking bad idea,” he mumbled to himself. “You always know it’s a bad idea and you always do it anyway. Definition of a goddamn idiot. Same experiment, same result, repeated over and over again expecting a different one.” He bit his lip and remembered what Peter’s felt like against them. Swollen and red and wrecked on his cock. Which led to thoughts about how the kid fucking _looked._ Taunting eyes, willing eyes, heated eyes, wanting. Here — alone and after — he could pretend they were wanting eyes.

Clearly working on the car wasn’t distraction enough. “JARVIS, file that damn file away for later. Much later. Like _never_ later.” He paused. “But don’t delete it,” he added quietly.

“Yes sir.”

“And bring up the preliminary specs for what Obie wants the Jericho to do.”

It didn’t take long for him to tire of that. The man wanted miracles. Tony knew he could easily provide them, he just didn’t want to get started on a new project right then. What he wanted was to go out and get drunk. _Spectacularly_ drunk. Bring home something easy to fuck. Something he didn’t _want_ to fuck. He might be functionally bi, but that didn’t mean he _wanted_ to fuck them. But he could turn on the charm and use them. It was easy. When you’re Tony Stark, such things were always at hand.

That one didn’t even make it til morning. “Sorry doll, I have no intention of waking up next to you,” he said after he’d come in her. “You remember your way to the door, huh? Car will be there in a few. You don’t mind waiting, do you? Doesn’t matter. Just get your ass out of my bed.” Bitchy? He took that to new heights. He rolled over and sprawled on his bed. “J, get her a ride home,” he slurred as he passed out.

~~~~~

“Jesus, Tony,” Pepper chided, walking into his bedroom and throwing a pair of pants at him. “I have been putting out your fires all morning. Did you have JARVIS look at that rambling, incoherent email you sent Obadiah yesterday? He’s supposed to catch those things for you.”

“I’m… god Pep… you know better than to fuss at me when I’m hung over.” He rolled onto his back, pantsless. 

“You do _not_ pay me enough.”

Tony floundered around for a cover and haphazardly pulled it over himself, missing a few key bits with it. “Why can’t it wait until noon?”

“Because noon was two hours ago.”

“Ugh.”

“You always get this way when…”

“I fucking know how I get! Putting out my fires is what I pay you for. If I’m not paying you enough, give yourself a raise.” He tugged the covers over his head and rolled away from the retreating sound of the click of her heels.

God, why’d he bring that girl home. Now, the sheets smelled like her and not like him. He kicked and tugged at them with his toes until he’d stripped the bottom sheet off the bed and was lying on the bare mattress. With just the cover over him. A cover she hadn’t touched. That kept him and the kid warm. “I fucking know how I get,” he muttered again to no one.

~~~~~

When he got out of bed it was dark. He padded around the house naked, found cold leftovers in the fridge, ate with his fingers, leaving a mess on the counter.

“Tony! Are you suddenly allergic to clothes?” Pepper yelped in surprise.

“Thought you’d gone home.”

“Well, I haven’t!”

“It’s my house. I’ll wear what I want. Or what I don’t want.”

Tony went back to his room. He found the bottle of scotch he kept there and started drinking.

He had no delusions about what he was. He’d known from as early as most boys like him learn those things. But like last night, he didn’t have trouble dating women or performing in bed with them. Alcohol helped… a lot. Mostly. It was a role he was acting. He lost himself in it. He liked the parties and the glamour and the image. Everything right up until he brought them back to the bedroom. But that was a role too. He didn’t have to have feelings or desire to perform _that_ role. After awhile, it became the role became a habit. Still undesired, still hated, but able to be acted on the stage of his life.

The guys he picked up or hired from an escort service… there was always something wrong about them. It might be a different something each time, but there was something. Tony couldn’t even say what it was. But it was no difficulty to have them leave his bed in the morning. Yeah, it always left him in a mood for a couple of days because even though he didn’t want it with them, he wanted it with _somebody._ A life where he wasn’t acting.

~~~~~

The next day, Pepper walked in at noon. At least he had the cover over himself. She babbled about the important things in his life while he hung his head over the edge of his bed and watched the ocean upside down.

“Obadiah is pressing me. He wants to know, can you or can you not make the Jericho do what he’d like it to do.”

He picked his head up and rolled until he was laying the correct way on the bed. “Tell him that the only reason _he_ can’t make it do what he’d like it to do is that he hires idiots and puts them on the engineering team. There’s a reason I won’t work with any of them.”

“What do I tell him? Is it feasible?”

Tony bent over, looking on the lower shelf of his nightstand.

“Contrary to your belief, not every woman on earth wants to see your naked ass.”

“My naked ass is a gift.” He fished around looking for the spare bottle he usually kept there. There wasn’t one. 

“Tony!” she screeched when he got out of the bed and headed for the door.

“God Pepper, you’d think you’d never seen me naked before.”

“You have an entire dressing room full of clothes and you can’t manage to at least find a pair of underwear in it?” she grumbled harshly. “Tony, if you come out naked one more time, I’m quitting.”

He looked over at her. She looked serious this time as opposed to the dozens of times she’d threatened that before. “Avert your eyes, Prudence.” Pepper huffed and turned her back to him. Tony emerged from his dressing room in a pair of black silk boxers. “Suitable business attire?” he asked.

“Lately, for you, yes.” She followed Tony out into the living room and watch as he went behind the bar. “The missile?”

“Stop haranguing me.” He found the bottle he was looking for and started back to his room.

“He’s haranguing me so I’m haranguing you.”

“I can make the Jerico do whatever the hell _I_ want it to do. Can I make it do what _he_ wants it to do? In my sleep.” Tony set the bottle on the night table next to the empty glass.

Pepper wished there was something she could do about her boss’ self destructive habits. There wasn’t. “Shall I bring you some ice, Mister Stark?”

“No, Ms. Potts. Neat will do just fine.” 

~~~~~

He didn’t open the bottle after she left. That was for later. He got into bed and rolled on his side, looking out over the ocean. Though he stared blankly, his mind was never blank. He was in the habit, from working with JARVIS and his bots, of muttering aloud as he ran through ideas. He wasn’t even aware he was doing it anymore. He just knew that when he needed them, JARVIS would be able to present everything he was muttering. While watching the waves, he ran through early planning for the Jericho missile. But his mind wouldn’t stay on work.

“J?”

“Yes sir?”

“Replay audio only,” He didn’t trust anything more. “From about twenty minutes in. When he came out of the shower.”

“Sir, are you sure this is the best course of action at this time?”

Tony sighed heavily. “I’m certain that it’s **_not_ ** the best course of action at **_any_ **time. J, that kid, Peter, he’s…” Tony slid farther toward the center of the bed and curled in on himself. “Everything I want. So beautiful it hurts. So…” He drew a deep breath. “Everything.”

“You are tormenting yourself, sir. Perhaps…”

“Just play it JARVIS,” Tony said resignedly. He didn’t even jerk off to it. He just listened to Peter’s voice as he talked and laughed and told him about his life. And he listened to all the sounds he made.

~~~~~

“How long is it going to be this time?” Pepper asked the next day at noon.

“Who the fuck knows!” he grumbled, heading back to the bedroom. At least he was wearing boxers. The same ones from the day before, but he was clothed. “All my fucking life, okay? Is that long enough for you?”

Pepper sighed. “He left the card you gave him.”

Tony snorted. 

She put it on his nightstand. “Go get yourself laid again. You’re impossible to work with like this.”

He’d tried to help the kid out. Gave him a referral. He flipped the card over, expecting to see a phone number that he had absolutely no intention of calling, no matter what Pepper just told him to do.

_“You know where to find me.”_

He set the card back on the nightstand. He’d have to get out of bed eventually. Another day.

~~~~~

“Tony, Pepper’s worried about you.”

“Rat.”

“You know I don’t judge, man. But she says it’s worse this time. And…” Rhodey scrunched his nose. “This place smells worse than a locker room. When was the last time you took care of yourself.” Tony’s finely shaped beard was surrounded by thick stubble.

“The night I picked him up.” He sat up in bed, leaning his back on the headboard. 

Rhodey’s look softened. “Why so bad this time, Tones?”

Tony tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. He sighed, then looked at Rhodey. “He was perfect. Everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“I know you only do one night stands, but make an exception for him, then. Pepper says he left a way for you to get in touch with him.”

He shook his head. “Not everything I’ve wanted to fuck.” His eyes looked infinitely sad. “Everything I’ve ever _wanted.”_ He paused. “Everything I can’t have.” 

Rhodey sat on the edge of the bed and patted Tony’s leg a couple of times. They’d been friends ever since he got stuck rooming with a kid two years younger than him. They had a very brief thing. Tony got a hard teenage crush. But then he met another guy and they broke up. Unlike Tony, he was actually bi and it was easy to give guys up when he joined the Air Force. But he’d watched his friend struggle with his closet door being slammed shut and locked for the past twenty years. He knew how much pain his best friend was in. 

“The world’s changing, man,” Rhodey said.

Tony snorted. “The world’s not changing _that much._ Especially the world I live in. You know that.”

“Tony, the DOD isn’t going to give a fuck if their weapons designer is gay as long as he keeps designing the best weapons on the planet. Who are they going to go with, Hammer? Half of what he makes doesn’t work in the field and is in constant recall.”

“Stark would take a hard hit. We don’t just sell to the DOD. The image? That’s not the kind of a ‘man’s man’ they want designing their guns.” He took a heavy breath and a long blink. “This is my life. I pay him instead of date him and Happy drives him home ten thousand dollars richer.”

“Ten… damn. That must’ve been a gold plated ass.” Rhodey smiled.

Tony huffed a laugh then sighed again. “The sex… I’ve been with a lot of rent boys in my life but _nothing_ like Peter. I have never had a rent boy come from nothing but my dick. Hell, that only happened a few times with guys I _didn’t_ pay for. I’ve never had a rent boy grind his hips and hump the mattress while I fuck their face. And… he was fuckin’ beautiful. Rent boys try to play at being boys. Or at the very least, a lot younger than they are. Pete? He’s twenty and he looks twenty and he doesn’t hide that. He’s got an absolutely _classic_ body.”

Rhodey knew that Tony had a thing for beauty. Not just people, everything around him was chosen for it. And he’d found a diamond on the street. “Tony, just see him again. Escorts have regular clients that last for years. I know he’s on the street, but, damn man, if you’re paying him ten thousand dollars a night, he doesn’t have to be a streetwalker.”

Tony sat up straighter in bed. “He could be… I could get him an apartment and take care of him. Like Obie does his mistress. It’s quiet and discrete.” Tony twitched his mouth in a resigned smile. “And it’s all I can get. I tried being closet with boyfriends. God, those were disasters. But if I’m _paying_ him that kinda shifts the balance of power. He’s in college. Smart. Chemistry major with a 3.8 GPA. He would recognize the practicality of the arrangement.”

“Tony, he was probably lying to you. You’re a genius. He played to that.”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t think so. We talked about why it was a 3.8 and not higher. He understood how that works, what he needs to pull it up, things that… I mean, I suppose _anything_ can be faked. I fake being straight every day of my life. But honestly, I think Pete’s exactly what he said he is.”

Beautiful and smart with a golden ass? Yeah. The kid was everything Tony wanted. Everything his friend deserved, if the world was a different place. “Okay, you’ve got a plan of attack. But this kid is _not_ gonna want to fuck you again in this room. And if you’re gonna support a high maintenance sugar baby, you're gonna have to get back to work.”

Tony laughed at Rhodey’s description. “Yeah. All right.” Rhodey stood and Tony got out of bed. 

~~~~~

  
  
When Rhodey left, Tony sat in bed and thought about his supposed plan of attack. He was too jaded to believe that it would work. Peter would likely refuse. If he didn’t, he had difficulty believing that it wouldn’t end in disaster just like his previous attempts at a closeted relationship. He should head down to the workshop and do all the things he was supposed to do. All the things that made him forget about the other things. Have the things he could have instead of dreaming about the things he couldn’t.

If he _was_ going to do something potentially disastrous — when in his life hadn’t he done something potentially disastrous — he should give it a few days. Wait and pick up Peter again for some less busy night than a Friday. But as he showered, he came up with a reason (excuse) why going to pick up Peter on a Friday would be a good idea. Sure, they connected on their one night together in bed, but would they be able to connect out of bed? There was, he hoped, a way to find out. 

Tonight would start out the same as last time. A simple transaction. No tipping his hand until morning. At the very least, he’d be able to spend one more night with Peter. He wouldn’t ask him to spend the day until they woke up in the morning. 

The card was still sitting on his nightstand where Pepper put it. The kid was probably in that hotel blowing some other guy for twenty bucks. Odds that he’d be at the curb? Slight. 

~~~~~

Shit. _That_ was a look. A crop top and booty shorts. It would be comical if it wasn’t for the way the kid’s broad shoulders held the thin fabric billowing away from his stomach. If those shorts didn’t ride _down_ on his hips. Up the crack of his ass would be trashy. But sliding down just enough to show those dimples and the start of the gentle rise of those firm cheeks? 

The kid recognized his car as he turned the corner. And he smiled when he saw it. 

Tony lowered the window and smiled as Peter leaned on the door. “You free tonight?”

“Available,” the kid said cheekily, making a point of the difference in the two words.

Tony chuckled. “Damn. You _are_ a brat, aren’t you.” He unlocked the door.

Peter slid in. “You like them bratty, don’t you Mr. Stark?”

“Nope.” Tony put the car in gear. “I like _you_ bratty.”

Walking in the doorway, Tony saw the kid look over at the table.

“Spur of the moment, tonight. Wasn’t prepared. Don’t worry baby.”

“I wasn’t.”

Tony twitched his head to the side. “Bratty, I can handle. Lies? Not as much.” He wished he could keep the edge out of his voice. But knowing what he was going to ask, and knowing that it would probably be refused? There was no keeping the edge out of his voice. “I know plenty of rich guys who’ve blown off their pickups for a lot less than what you’re worth. When I say don’t worry, I mean it.”

“All right, Tony.”

“Sorry baby.” He was. Not that there was much he could do about it. This was territory he’d never had to negotiate before. He led the kid into his bedroom and undressed. “You know where the bathroom is. Same as last time. But ditch the outfit. It’s cute, but just skirting the wrong side of trashy.” _And you’re skirting the wrong side of bitchy tired old queen, Tony._

“Pete,” he said when Peter stood, naked and damp in the bathroom doorway. “I _am_ sorry. I’ve been in a fucking mood all week. I think my PA’s about to bring me up on sexual harassment charges for walking around here naked, griping at everything,” he said with a wry laugh.

Peter smiled. “I think I know a cure.”

“Me too. Looking at you naked in my bed.”

Peter crawled up the middle of Tony’s bed from the foot of it and splayed himself out, knowing just what Tony wanted. 

Tony stood there taking in the sight. How a California boy could have skin so white… Against the black silk of his sheets… It was _stunning._ “Fuck,” he breathed out appreciatively. “I honestly can’t get enough of just looking at you.”

“Just _looking_ at me?” Peter teased. “That’s all you want?”

Tony laughed. His patience for bratty was next to zero under all other circumstances. Peter made him want to fuck the brat right out of him. And have him come back brattier than ever, needing it again. “So, baby, what’s the limits of your repertoire? Face down ass up, or do you mind a little creativity?”

“Depends on what your idea of creative is,” Peter answered.

“Simple. Different positions?” 

“Absolutely. That definitely appeals to my creative side. I’m pretty flexible.”

“Really,” Tony drew out the word.

Peter swatted teasingly at his arm. “Yes, I am. But that’s not what I meant. What I meant is that I only have a couple of hard limits. Nothing disgusting. No heavy kink. Bondage… With you, it’s okay, if you’re into that. Not just with whoever off the street though. Too dangerous.”

“Not a problem. I never much cared for implements and devices. I’m satisfied with what the body can do.” He ran his hand down Peter’s side. “Kinda like to see what this body can do.” He rolled to meet Peter in the middle of the bed, pulling him close, like they were two nights before. He kissed the kid and then brought his finger up to trace the line of his lip to the corner of his mouth. “Still sore?” He grinned.

“Yeah, asshole,” he said grinning.

“Aww. Thought it would be from somebody else, not me still.”

“Tony, I know you’re good at math. You know what an average is.”

Tony laughed. “Yeah. Looks like you’re not failing statistics either.”

“It wasn’t an eight am class.”

God, there was so much Tony wanted. Someone gorgeous, someone witty, maybe a bit bratty and able to stand up to him just a little, and the one thing he could never find. Someone fucking _smart._ Yeah, okay, Pepper had a point, even though she never said it, he heard it. It was worse this time. _He_ was worse this time. If Peter refused his offer, he was going to be even worse for a very long time.

Tony drowned out his thoughts in the kid’s mouth. Let it go. Give into it. The kid’s good. Let him be good. Just kiss him and feel him fucking kiss back.

It didn’t matter if Peter moaned into the kiss, Tony did.

“Slower tonight,” Tony whispered into Peter’s mouth. _“Much_ slower, okay?” He pressed a kiss to the kid’s lips. 

“Okay Tony.” 

Peter kissed him back. Tony sighed. “Kiss me again, baby,” he said as he pulled Peter to lie on top. 

The kid stretched out on top of him. He settled lightly and reached up, taking Tony’s face between his hands. His ran his thumbs over the edge of his beard. He looked down, mimicking coyness. He looked up again and held Tony’s gaze in those beautiful dark honey eyes. Peter brought their lips to almost touch. “Tony.” He leaned forward and took the kiss home.

Tony wrapped his arms around Peter’s chest. Their bodies moved in a slow grind against each other, letting the moment stretch, and then stretch some more, letting the desire build. Peter’s hands left his face and tangled into his hair. God, he liked things from Peter that he _hated_ from anyone else. The kid was pulling uncontrolled responses from him with those expert fingers massaging his scalp as he kept control of their kiss. Deepening it, holding it, breaking it and waiting until Tony was practically whimpering for more. Then Peter began again.

He shook his head a little. He knew he couldn’t say the words he wanted to. “Baby, you are…” Tony sighed when Peter finally broke their kiss. The kid followed with a light peck on Tony’s lips and he could feel that _they_ were the ones swollen and red that night.

“Fuck, Pete.” He ran his hands over the kid’s back. All that beautiful white skin, warm and soft and just begging him to suck tiny little bruises into it. “Marks?” Tony asked, still breathless.

“Kinda cuts the ability to work. Other guys don’t like it.”

“What if I pay you enough that you don’t have to work until they fade?”

“Wanna make me yours?” Peter said with a teasing tone to his voice.

“Baby, you have no idea,” he answered, with entirely too much sincerity. He could see Peter thinking about it. 

“I’d rather you not,” he said finally. Not harshly, and Tony thought he heard a little hesitancy about his decision. Like he wished it could’ve been a different answer. But that was probably only Tony’s projected desire.

“That’s okay Peter. Shouldn’t’ve asked. Sorry.” _You asked for a few days, not even with you, just with your mark, and were refused. What’s the point of going further? Pay him. Send him home. Like J said, you’re tormenting yourself._

“It’s okay, Tony.” He kissed him lightly on the lips before nestling his head into the crook of Tony’s neck. “I know what you want,” he said quietly. “I just…”

“’S okay baby. Told you I was in a mood. Didn’t mean to cross the line, okay?” _Send. Him. Home._

Peter put a soft kiss on his neck. “We can cross it tonight. I don’t mind.” 

_Or not…_ Tony shuddered through his entire body and held Peter tighter around the chest. He hated himself for showing the vulnerability. He knew better. This wasn’t what was done. Especially after a refusal. The crossing of the line? Was offered as pity. He got himself under control and slipped back into the game. The game was all he was ever allowed. But he was allowed that.

“You know I like to look,” he said forcing a smile when Peter leaned back so they could see each other.

“Yeah.” Peter playfully nipped at the swell of Tony’s bottom lip. “It’s like you’re eating me up with your eyes.” He soothed the bite with his tongue. “It’s intense.”

If only he didn’t _want_ so much. Tony wound his hand in Peter’s hair and brought him into a kiss _he_ controlled this time. Demanding. Unrelenting. Long and broken and started again and repeated. And repeated. And _repeated._

He felt his cock begin to take an interest.“You said other positions were an option. I want you to ride me,” he said. “Want you to jerk off and make yourself come while you do. Can you do that?”

“With your cock?” Peter smiled. “The question would be, can I _not_ do that.”

Tony chuckled. “If you hadn’t come with nothing but my dick inside you, I’d think it was cheap flattery. Wanna feel you get all hot and tight on me again, baby. Wanna see it this time.” _And let tomorrow worry about tomorrow._

“Lots of guys have _things,_ y’know?” Tony hummed an acknowledgement. “But yours? The _looking_ thing?” Peter actually blushed. It started on his cheeks and worked down his neck all the way to his chest. God, the kid’s unguarded physiological responses were like a drug to him. “It makes me feel special,” Peter said, with a shy smile. 

“Pete,” Tony said, running his fingers lightly, gently through his curly hair. “You _are_ special.” The kid said they could cross that line tonight. Whether out of pity or not. Tony gave himself over to that. “Baby, I look because I _want.”_ He went from sincerity to crooking his mouth in a smug smile. “Right now I want to see that beautiful body of yours work itself with my dick up your ass.”

Peter slid down farther and sat up, straddling Tony’s thighs. He was a sinful work of art. Beautiful and angelic, but the way his hand curled around Tony’s half-hard cock and stroked him, looking down and watching it respond, there was a bit of the devil in him too. There was something… It felt different that night. More… real. Like he was actually glad that Tony showed up to take up his time. Like he’d rather be here than with someone else. Like he actually got off on it, even though it was his job. Lots of people liked parts of their jobs, right? Why not a rent boy? No one was forcing Peter into it. He wasn’t trafficked or pimped out. He was on the street by his choice, wanting to be right where he was and not working for an agency, not working for someone else. So if it was a job of choice, why couldn’t there be enjoyment sometimes? 

The kid slid his hips forward and pressed his cock against Tony’s. He wasn’t hard yet, but he took both hands and circled them around them both, bringing them together, touching. Slowly bucking his hips, rocking into his hands, pressing against Tony’s erection, Peter started to get hard. Tony hissed a breath between his teeth. He’d done a lot of things, but never this. Never had another man’s cock against his like that. It was… he almost laughed at himself. How many times had he had his dick up a guy’s ass? Taken one in his younger days? Yet this felt so… it was hard to even think about… it felt _gay._ Like actually gay. Not ‘I’m stuck in the closet so we have to do this quick and dirty and then pretend nothing happened so I can go back to fucking women’. This was another man’s cock against his own.

He reached down and ran his hands over Peter’s thighs. And yeah, he _looked._ They way they were together, that was a sight that _HAD_ to be committed to memory. Recordings would never get the sensation combined with the image the way his mind would remember this. 

They were both leaking precome. Peter shifted his hips to where the heads of their cocks were of a height, despite Tony being so much larger. Then he ran his hand over the heads, spreading the fluid, mingling it, slicking his palm. 

“Fuck, Peter,” he groaned. “God baby, that’s… fuck that feels good.” His neck went back, pushing his head into the pillow. Tony closed his eyes and moaned, letting himself fall into the sensation. 

“Baby, if you keep that up…” he said after almost too long. He bent his head back down to look again. 

Peter chuckled softly. “Yeah. Feels _too_ good.” He leaned forward and reached under the pillow by the edge of the bed. He found the lube in the same place it had been last time he was here. “Thought you might be a creature of habit,” he said smiling.

“Makes things easier,” Tony said. “Everything in the workshop has a place, everything here has one too.” _Bet you’d fit into a place._

Peter moved their cocks away from each other, taking down Tony’s level of excitement to bearable. He squeezed the lube in his hand and started coating Tony’s cock careful with the level of stimulation. 

“Baby, you have wonderful hands. Those long fingers.” Tony’s breath caught. “All right brat, don’t tease,” he said, grinning as those hands went looking for sensitive spots.

“Oh this is going to feel _so_ good.” Peter raised up on his knees and scooted forward until he was perched directly over Tony’s cock. His eyelashes fluttered as he reached around behind himself and took Tony’s shaft in hand. He opened his eyes and looked down at Tony with a little smile. He teased his hole with the head of the man’s cock. “Y’know, I was never much of a size queen…” 

Tony interrupted him with a low chuckle. “Made you change your mind, baby?” Peter lowered himself just enough to take the head in, held it there, then lifted completely off. His heat and the loss of it made Tony wince. “Pete, you’re a fuckin’ tease.”

“You said take it slow.” He lowered himself just a little farther down before lifting himself off again. “When you were fucking me, you did this. A little at a time.”

“Yeah but…”

“Oh it’s different when I do it?” Peter grinned. He sank lower until Tony’s cock was almost half inside him. 

“Yeah.” Tony bit his lip, trying to hold something in, and failing. “I’m not in control.”

Peter rose all the way off and ran the head around his rim before taking Tony almost, but not quite, all the way in. “You like being in control, Tony?”

“What do you think,” Tony growled and reached his hands for Peter’s hips.

Peter swatted them away. “You said you wanted to watch me work myself on your cock. Not use your hands to control me while you fuck up into me.”

“Maybe I changed my goddamn mind.” Tony groaned in frustration as Peter lifted up again, taking his cock from the warm tight heat of him and exposing it to the cooler air.

“Maybe I didn’t change mine.” He started lowering himself down, achingly slow. “You wanna take what I give? Or you wanna take what you want? Don’tcha always take what you want, Tony Stark?”

Tony put his arms behind his head. “Mm hmm. You’re gonna _give_ me what I want. I don’t have to take, do I baby boy?” He groaned as Peter came close to having him all the way in. Peter started with the fake panting. “Pete, you’re good, but you’re not _that_ good. I can tell. Don’t do that.” 

Peter stopped the sound but continued his tease. Tony watched. There was the barely hidden look of disappointment at Tony’s criticism, but that passed quickly. The fake panting stopped but Peter was still hard. When had him all the way inside and started moving? There came the soft little barely audible broken breaths. The kid was so tight and hot. How someone who got fucked as often as he probably did, could still be so tight. “Go ahead. Get what you want, kid.” 

Tony didn’t know where to look first. The way Peter had enough core strength to hold himself straight as he began to fuck himself, it was breathtaking to watch the roll of his abs as he moved. But Tony’s eyes settled on the kid’s thighs. Tight cords of muscle under pale skin as he strained them to lift himself, then relaxed them to let himself fall and grind against him. “Baby.” He moaned appreciatively as his gaze went from thigh to the hard and arching cock above his belly. “I wanna watch you take yourself apart. Wanna listen to you try to fake it again… _and fail._ Because you can’t fake your body’s response, Peter.”

“Fuckin’ hate you,” he said on a long breath. Peter moaned for real as he ground his hips in a tight circle against Tony’s pelvis. His eyes closed and he began to rock again. 

“Shit, baby,” Tony hissed as Peter picked up speed, sliding almost to the tip before slamming down hard, then doing it again faster. “’Bout as much as I hate you,” Tony grunted. “Yeah. It’s fun letting you give for awhile. And… god… you’re so… fuckin’ beautiful… But I know you want me to…” Tony smirked.

“No, Tony! I’m sure I _don’t_ want you to!” He dropped his hand to his cock and started stroking it. “Fuck you! Fuckin’ hate you you smug arrogant bastard!”

“Aww, baby. You know you want it. All you have to do is _ask.”_

“Please, Tony,” Peter whimpered. His cheeks were flushed pink with bright red on the apples of them. 

“Gotta ask, Pete,” Tony said, almost grinning. Only grinning was hard when your mouth fell open because the kid on top of you set his mind to taking _you_ apart this time. Tony wasn’t going to let him.

“Goddammit, Tony! Fuck me!” Peter ground down on him one last time.

Tony’s laugh broke on a sharp breath because damn… the kid’s hips had magic in them. But they had Tony’s hands on them too. Holding Peter still. Digging his fingers into firm flesh that he knew Peter was too far gone to even think about the fact that Tony knew he was leaving bruises there. 

He fucked up into Peter. His hand lost grip on his cock and when he reached back for it, Tony smacked his hand away.

“Tony!” the kid whined. “I can’t!”

“You’re gonna,” he said, lifting Peter and… well… he was twice the kid’s age and a lot more experienced at things other than your basic fuck-n-suck in a street kid’s skillset. “C’mere, Pete.” He moved one hand off the kid’s hips and held his arm open. When Peter stretched out over his body, he wrapped his arm around his chest and held him close. The other hand still on the kid’s hip to balance him, Tony began thrusting hard and fast, canting his hips sharply up as he drove into the kid. Which, more times than not, had the desired effect of making Peter nearly scream with pleasure. Combined with the slide of their abdomens over Peter’s trapped cock… it wasn’t long before their stomachs were wet with his come. 

Tony nipped at Peter’s neck, careful not to leave marks, as he fucked him through his orgasm until his own rushed down on him. “Told you… you were… gonna,” he growled out between ragged breaths he fought to steady.

“Fuckin’ hate you,” Peter sighed contentedly as he nuzzled into Tony’s neck. 

Tony kissed the side of the kid’s head. None of that was fake. And you didn’t say things like he just did… and not… _feel_ something when they were together. Even though Tony knew it was his imagination. Most likely the kid got _properly_ laid for the first time and didn’t know how to deal with it. He’d know tomorrow morning. For now, he held Peter close and rolled them onto their sides facing each other. The lube had its proper place, and so did a couple of small, soft towels under the next pillow over. He reached across Peter’s shoulder and found one. Kissing Peter’s forehead, tasting the salt sweat there… okay… maybe another kiss was required first… he reached down between them and started wiping their fronts clean.

“You think of everything,” Peter said smiling.

“Don’t have the upright moral standing to be a Boy Scout, but I’m prepared,” Tony said with a quick grin. “Shower can come later. I just wanna hold you.” He smiled softly. “And maybe kiss you a few dozen times more.”

Tony had vast plans for the rest of the night. But Peter looked relaxed and comfortable. And he was feeling the same. Their kisses grew more languid. Hands glided across bodies more slowly. 

“Can I sleep here tonight?” Peter asked.

It surprised Tony. It was still fairly early and the rent boy wasn’t supposed to ask questions like that. When paid for the night, he was supposed to anticipate more sex coming after a downtime, and he certainly wasn’t supposed to _ask_ to sleep in the client’s home after.

“Yeah, baby. Shower in the morning. I don’t want to move,” Tony said as his fingers twisted through Peter’s hair. “I wanna wake up next to you.” He kissed Peter’s shoulder lightly. “Is that okay?” He didn’t want the illusion to shatter in the darkness of early morning.

“I’d like that.”

“J, kill the early alarm.” He turned his head ceiling-ward and spoke in a normal voice. “Set one for seven.” He turned back to Peter. “That good for you?”

“Yeah. It’s Saturday. No classes, early or late.” Peter turned over, his back spooned against Tony’s front. He did a little squirm to get settled.

Tony watched Peter fall asleep, thinking of what Rhodey had suggested. Peter would probably turn him down and the point would be moot. Still, he’d offer to pay. He’d offer to pay _well._ Even though paying would break the illusion, the payment could be automatically deposited every month and then hopefully forgotten. He just needed a day. Just one day to feel it. What it would be like if he wasn’t Tony Stark, famous playboy and great fucker of vast numbers of women. What it would be like to have another man occupying his personal space. 

He used to have only a vague idea of what sort of man that might be. But his desire to have a man in his life had narrowed down with pinpoint focus. He wanted that man to be brilliant, beautiful Peter. If he agreed to stay this weekend, he’d know. Was it just a bed thing, or could it be more. Could it be what he wanted.

~~~~~

It had been years, probably close to a decade, since he’d _woken up_ to someone in his bed. He either beat his hasty early morning retreat or they had the decency to do it first. Fall asleep with someone in his bed? He did that a lot. Wake up? Never. Peter was softly snoring, still spooned against him. They’d hardly moved at all in their sleep. 

He was mildly horny. His cock was vaguely interested, but him? Not so much. He just wanted to lie there and look at Peter. In his room, in his bed, in his arms. Sleeping like an angel. Smelling of last night’s sex and of him. He might not want to have a morning fuck, but he rather desperately wanted to kiss that spot on the back of his neck. Feel his skin against his lips. His sleep-mussed hair against his face. He couldn’t resist. A soft kiss, hopefully light enough not to wake the kid just yet. But once one was given, another had to follow and another and another and he couldn’t keep that little moan out of his throat.

Peter slowly rolled over in Tony’s arms. He looked up with a sleepy smile. “Morning.”

“Good morning baby.”

Peter’s smile widened. “You were watching me sleep.”

“Guilty as charged. But then you know I like to look at you. There’s this little curl you have right behind your ear…”

Peter laughed softly. “Drives me crazy when I’m trying to get my hair tamed.”

“You shouldn’t tame it. It’s beautiful. You’re a work of art. There always has to be a flaw in any work of art. Without it, it’s…” Tony twitched a shrug. 

“That’s a Japanese thing,” Peter said. “I remember reading about it in my friend’s art appreciation book.”

“Wabi-sabi. I was on a business trip. The guy I met with was an art collector. It explained so much about why I like the pieces I do. So many are too perfect and just go in the investment collection. But some, with that flaw or with a deeply emotional sense… It’s weird. Pepper puts up all these perfect ones and I kinda hate them. They’re not beautiful.” He paused. “They’re not like you.”

They laid together, not talking, just letting hands lightly wander. “I guess I should shower,” Peter said.

“Yeah… or…” Tony sucked his lips in. He’d had a lot of bad ideas in his life. “It’s Saturday. You said you don’t have classes.” He ran his fingers down the kid’s arm. “Have you ever considered escort work but not for an agency?”

“What do you mean? Isn’t escort just a fancier name for what I do?”

“It can be. But at the upper end of that, it’s also a kind of companionship. Well paid, of course. An escort’s time is valuable.”

“I still don’t know what you mean.”

“I was wondering if you’d spend the day and another night with me. Hold off on leaving until Sunday morning. Like I said, I’d be willing to pay for the night again but also for your time during the day.”

“Tony,” Peter began cautiously.

He shrugged. “Nothing more than that. I’d just kinda like to spend the day with you.” He sighed. “Keep the line crossed for a little while longer.”

“That’s… probably not a good idea.”

“I’m not exactly known for my impulse control,” he said on a huffed laugh. 

“Tony, this can’t be anything more than what it is.”

“I’m very well aware of what I’m allowed to have and what I’m not,” he said, a little bitterly.

Peter reached out and caressed his face. “That’s not what I meant,” he said tenderly. “I have a life away from this. The two are kept rigorously apart. And just because I don’t have classes today, doesn’t mean I don’t need to be working.”

“I imagine so. Hard to keep up at Caltech without a lot of outside work.”

Peter pulled back and looked at Tony harshly. “I didn’t tell you that.”

“Didn’t have to. Kid as smart as you, 3.8 in chemistry, hard eight am class. Didn’t take much to figure you’d be at the _second best_ school in the country.” 

He still hadn’t looked at JARVIS’ file, but it wasn’t a difficult deduction.

Peter relaxed. _“Second best?”_

Tony grinned. “I doubt you wore that t-shirt to school.”

“I value my life too much,” he said laughing. "Like any Caltech student would show up in an MIT t-shirt."

“JARVIS can pull up whatever you need to study. It’s Saturday and I can do a lot of fucking off, but I kinda got Obie pissed off at me with a… poorly worded email, so I have to at least get him a timeline for the preliminary design of what Stark’s working on next.”

“Tony…”

“Look, you can do the work you need to and… well… you know that I can make things easier with what I’m willing to give you for your time. One day. One more night. That’s all.”

“You’re not used to people saying ‘no’ to you, are you?”

“Happens more times than you’d think.” He shook his head. “I… I shouldn’t’ve asked, kid. I’m just all over the place lately. Up in my head more than I want to be. Which is not your problem.” He pulled away from Peter and sat on the edge of the bed. “Go on. Shower. I’ll take mine downstairs. And I’ll leave something other than an MIT shirt for you to wear home. Happy will wait for you with the car. Pepper will get cash out of the safe and put it where it was last time.” He scrubbed his hand through his hair and started for the dressing room to pull out the clothes and something for him to put on after his own shower.

Peter got up off the bed and hurried over to him, wrapping his arms around his waist from behind. “I didn’t say no. I said it was a bad idea. Which it is.”

Tony twisted out of his grasp. “Did you forget your way to the bathroom?” he asked tersely.

“No Tony, but unless you want me wandering around your house in my booty shorts, I’ll take you up on that offer for something to wear.” Peter chased after him again and held him more tightly, hands on Tony’s hips. “And showering is much more fun when you’re in it with me.”

Tony considered it. Then he grinned. “All right, but you have to wear an MIT shirt until you go home.”

“You can’t _pay_ me enough for that,” Peter laughed. He took Tony’s hands in his and led them both to the bathroom.

~~~~~

Sunday morning he woke to a four thirty alarm on his watch. He left what he was supposed to on the console table. Texted Pepper that Peter was in the house and to make sure he was driven home. Downstairs, well before Peter would wake up, he got in the Shelby and headed up the PCH. He got her close to flat out on the straightaways, but he knew the max of his ability in the curves. He’d had a little flirtation with racing before he sublimated it all into owning a Formula 1 team. 

It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford a speeding ticket or like they’d actually haul Tony Stark off to jail, no matter how much over the limit he was. He’d drive until he felt like heading back to work. If that was all the way to Alaska, so be it.

He didn’t regret Saturday at all. No matter how much it hurt now. Didn’t matter if the pain lasted the rest of the year. It had been wonderful. He’d never had anything like it before in his entire life. Not even when he was trying to have a closeted relationship with a guy. That was hurried sex, a hurrieder afternoon here or there, and lots of fights about coming out. Nothing at all like yesterday.

And he couldn’t have it.

He was considering making the offer. Putting the kid up in a place near school, picking up the tab. Keeping him like the men in his business kept their mistresses. He’d leave the kid his life and fit himself in around it. Try to eek out a little normal whenever he could. Peter seemed to genuinely enjoy his time with him yesterday. Faking things for a few hours of sex and sleep was one thing, but just relaxing around each other, working around each other, sharing the same space and seeming to be happy about it. He seriously doubted that a street level rentboy, even a good one, had that skill. 

Maybe after another few nights spent together, maybe an evening or two, no more days — don’t push it — then see if Peter would be open to an arrangement.

Tony knew he was dreaming. Not only was it a bad idea, it would never work. He was already feeling possessive about the kid. Having him continue to work or having him get a boyfriend in his other life, those were things he wouldn’t be able to tolerate. And the kid wanted his own life. He’d said so. But there were a lot of things unsaid. Only shown by Peter’s responses. 

Fuck. Ease the speed in those curves or you’re gonna be the next James Dean. _Would that be so bad?_ Yeah. Cos then you couldn’t fuck Peter’s ass next weekend, like you know you’re gonna give in and do. 

_Two nights, one day, and I’m already in love with him? That’s what I’m feeling? That’s impossible._

Tony rounded the curve where the road slid around the side of a mountain. Faster than he should, but the Shelby handled it. She was one of his favorite cars. The way she moved. The way she ran like the wind. The feel of her around him. Cars like that were owned and looked at but never driven. Too many sat in collectors’ garages. Pretty as a paperweight and there to show off. But a car like that was made to be driven. The word twisted in his mind. Made to be ridden. 

Like Peter’s ass. The kid was hot and ready and fucking came on his cock. Damn near every time he’d fucked him. That wasn’t something a rentboy did. He was squirming and humping the mattress when Tony fucked his face both the first time and again last night. Some things the kid did were fakes. They stood out obviously. Even though the kid was subtle, Tony could tell the difference between the professional and Peter’s natural reactions. There were _so many_ of the latter.

Tony was a bit of a fiend when it came to sex, whenever he could get the right kind. He loved it and it probably played a too big, too risky, part of his life. But that wasn’t the only thing he wanted from Peter. Yesterday… The sex he could get anywhere. There were others who were good. But with Peter, there was the dangerous part. The thing he wanted. Didn’t just want, but _ached_ for. 

He took Peter to his workshop. The place where only the people closest to him were allowed. And the kid _fit._ He worked quietly on his classwork while Tony did the work he needed to do for Stark. When they were both finished, they just _played around_ down there. Peter wasn’t just smart, he was fucking brilliant. And the kid _fit._

Tony wanted what he couldn’t have. He knew the limits of his life. What he was _allowed._ Having Peter wasn’t on the list of those things.

Dawn was casting shadows on the road. The early morning people would be crowding on. But the road was still empty and there was a straight stretch coming up. He let her off the leash and watched the needle climb. The speed was as much of a rush as the fantasy life he was building in his head. Curve coming up, he reined her back in. Like fucking hard and fast and then stopping when you’re in deep and feeling the heat around you and the exhilaration of the moment before. Hot and panting and covered in sweat and calling his name.

Commuters, even on a Sunday, eventually clogged up the road. Tony found a place to turn around. He joined the slow return home. People looked out their windows, seeing his prized baby. Recognizing him. Billionaire playboy with a wild life and anything he wanted at the tip of his fingers. Envying him and wanting what he had. Not knowing that what _he_ wanted will never be at the tip of his fingers, no matter how much money he had, no matter how many fancy cars he drove.

~~~~~

Pepper stopped screeching at him about his state of dress because he once again discovered where his dressing room and his bathroom were. And he forgot where the bottle was.

Obie stopped screeching at him about the lateness of the Jericho plans because the work was flowing from his fingertips. He was sending designs faster than the idiots at Stark could handle them. 

Rhodey stopped being concerned about his best friend because his best friend was spending most of his time walking on air.

Because Peter was an almost weekly visitor to his house. There were no more days spent together, like he promised himself. But there were sometimes evenings when Peter was in front of the hotel, just after the sun went down, replying ‘yes’ to Tony’s text. 

Dinner was waiting when they got back. After, there was time in the workshop, or time in the pool, or time spent still sitting at the table, ignoring the empty plates, just talking. There weren’t enough evenings. 

Four so far and Tony remembered every one. His obsession with looking made him notice how easily Peter moved through the house after the first awkward evening. How on the third evening together, the kid asked if they could go down to the workshop because he had lab work to do and the professor didn’t care where it was done as long as it was documented. Even if it _was_ documented by an MIT alum.

That was a dangerous night. 

They worked together until well past midnight. And the way they worked… After Peter’s lab work was done, Tony showed him the work he was doing to upgrade the repulsors. Those were under patent and he could share the data. Peter didn’t need to know that they were destined for the Jericho missile, and he didn’t ask. He’d eventually be working in the corporate world after grad school and he understood that some things were kept secret because of corporate espionage. But even though physics and engineering weren’t Peter’s field… god… they just… _meshed_ as they worked together. An untrained undergrad from CalTech was worth ten of Obie’s so called engineers when it came to being able to work with him. 

Then, excited by a breakthrough, they went up to bed and the blowjob Peter gave him was _epic._ He wouldn’t let Tony do anything but lie there and receive his reward for making the repulsor small enough to fit wherever it was Tony wanted it to fit (he couldn’t say.) Then Peter crawled on top of him like a blanket and they kissed until they nearly fell asleep that way.

Too dangerous. Too close to what was drifting from _want_ to _need._ Too close to what Tony knew he could never have.

But he was addicted to those nights. Addicted to Peter. There were times when he texted and Peter said no, but he knew that the ‘no’ meant only for that particular night, not a ‘no, I’ll never see you again’. Sometimes he drove down the street and Peter was there, but not. Pretending not to notice Tony’s car. Tony took that in the same manner as he took the ‘no’ texts. Not tonight, but later. And later always came.

Tony gave it two full months from the first night he picked Peter up.

~~~~~

The early alarm went off on Tony’s watch. He’d brought Peter home on a Friday, very deliberately seeking him out on a night he hadn’t since they spent the first (and only) day together. Instead of letting Peter sleep and making his retreat — something he did less and less, preferring to wake together — he gently woke him. 

“Baby?” Tony stroked Peter’s back once he felt him wake up. The kid uncurled to look up into his face. “I know I have no right to, but I worry about you.”

Peter smiled indulgently, even though he was awakened at five in the morning. “I’m okay, Tony.”

“Yeah, but…” Tony drew a deep breath, steeling himself for what he was about to say. “You could be better than ‘okay’.” The kid gave him a look that said he was about to start making a million objections. Tony put his finger on Peter’s lips. “Listen, first. That’s all I’m asking.”

“Tony,” Peter said beneath his finger. He was more awake than he had been.

“Shh. Listen. I know you value your independence. I’m not proposing anything that would take that away. I wouldn’t want to in the first place.”

“But you’re proposing _something,”_ Peter said, moving Tony’s hand away.

“If this is all I can have, I’ll take it. Sunday nights whenever you feel like stepping out of that doorway and acknowledging that you’ve seen me drive past instead of pretending you didn’t.” Peter started to deny it. “Baby, please don’t lie to me. It happens. Move on. That’s not the point.”

“I don’t know that your point is a good idea.”

“I don’t know, Pete. Is the work something you need to satisfy something else, or is it the financial situation you need alleviated? If it’s the former, then no, it’s not a good idea. But if it’s the latter, there’s a better solution.”

“Tony, I can’t be your boyfriend.”

“No. You can’t be. Not even we both wanted that. We know this. I’m as good as what you’d consider being married. Stark has a claim on me I can’t get rid of. I can get rid of the girls. I can get rid of the parties. At least, mostly. There’s some of it…” He shook his head. “My life isn’t my own. But I can say I’m focusing on my work.”

“So if you’re married…”

“I could have a mistress. So to speak.”

Peter laughed. “Wow. That’s…” He blinked widely. “That’s a whole fuckin’ lot to unpack.”

Tony laughed with him. “Okay… I could’ve put it better. But… I mean, god Pete, you’ve got to _know…”_

“That you have some pretty inconvenient feelings about me? Yeah Tony. I’m not blind.”

“Okay. But on the other side of it, it’s gotta be better spending the night with me than whoever rolls up to the curb. Certainly more lucrative. And without flattering myself too much, you seem to enjoy the rest of it as well.”

“But Tony, I can’t give you what you want. You deserve so much more than to settle for me because I’m all you can have.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “Pete, you don’t honestly think that. You’re not all I can have, okay? I can pick up the phone and with one call this huge bed can be completely filled with whatever I want to order. How in the world do you think that being with you is in any way ‘settling’? Baby, you’re a treasure.”

“So what is it you want?” Peter asked, changing the subject.

“I’d like to pay your rent, your bills, give you an allowance, let you live your life however you want with only two stipulations.”

“Being?” The kid looked skeptically at him.

“You find time for me in all of that. I’m flexible and will work around your schedule.”

“That’s one.”

He took a deep breath again. “There isn’t anyone else as long as our arrangement is going.”

“No working?”

“Not just that,” he said.

“Anyone,” Peter said flatly.

“Yeah. You’ve already told me that you don’t have boyfriends and haven’t since you started working.”

“Because I couldn’t…” Peter sighed. “I couldn’t reconcile…” He gave a little wince. “I can’t bounce back and forth between distance and not distance. And…” He bit his lip. “This is already too…”

“Then _let_ it be baby. You don’t have to reconcile the two. The two would be the same. Petey…”

“God! If we’re talking honest, could you _please_ never call me that again?”

Tony laughed so hard it entirely broke their previous somber tone. “I… oh my god. Honestly? I never even realized I was doing it. It’s… yeah. It’s not the same as baby or darling or the other things I call you, is it?” He was still laughing.

“No. I fuckin’ hate it.”

“I promise. Never again will I call you that and if I do, you can kick me in the shins.”

“I’ll hold you to that. And if you do it too many times after that, I’ll find another place to kick.”

“Yeouch. But you’d just be hurting yourself. Who will give you multiple orgasms then?”

“God you’re such an asshole.” 

“You haven’t said no. Which, I’ve learned as CEO, means that it’s all negotiation at this point,” he said with a shrug.

“Did I already say you’re an asshole?”

“Did I already say you hadn’t said ‘no’?”

Peter turned serious again. “I don’t know if I can handle that. It’s a little too…” 

Tony didn’t fill the void with words. He left it unrelieved until Peter continued. Or didn’t. As time continued to stretch, he still refused to fill it with his usual word vomit. Even though it was obvious that Peter was looking for relief. 

The kid sighed and closed his eyes. “To real for it not to be,” he finally finished, opening his eyes again.

“And?” Part of Tony hated to use negotiation tactics on the kid. But he wanted to get what he wanted. He let the silence stretch.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” he said quietly.

“What ‘that’ do you mean?”

Another long silence loomed. 

“I’m entirely in control of my life. I work when I want, or when I need to. At my own decision. I take who I’m willing to take, out of necessity or pragmatism… or desire, but on my terms. And when I walk away from that street, I walk away from it. What you’re proposing… there’s only two choices here. Out or in. It’s long term, either way. Not a daily decision. And there is no walking away from the street at the end of the night.” He bit his lip. “Even if that street is just my front door. It’s still there and we’re just pretending that it’s not by calling it an even fancier lie than ‘escort’.”

“So if there wasn’t a street?”

“I still need to pay the bills.”

“Is that the only objection?” He paused. “Not who’d be walking through that door and with what limitations he has on him?”

“That’s a pretty big objection.”

“Not really. You could get a job.”

Peter huffed. “Yeah. Right. Minimum wage plus tips as a waiter somewhere and still not be able to pay the rent while losing all my study time.”

Tony chuckled. “Wow. If only you knew someone who owned a huge corporation who hired STEM students with high GPAs to be paid interns, huh?” He grinned. “Do you have any how many interns Stark has on its payroll?”

“Just putting a different name on the transaction doesn’t change it. Internships don’t pay.”

“Really? Because there’s about six hundred people who’d like to disagree with you. J? How many paid interns work at Stark?”

“Stark Industries employs one thousand seven hundred and sixty paid interns.”

“My math was wrong?” He furrowed his brow and amended the question. “In the US?”

“Six hundred and twenty three. The majority of hires have been at the Bangalore and Malaysia facilities as part of your education initiatives there.”

“Yeah, not something I’ve kept track of since I had Pepper start that. Phew! I thought for the first time in my life, I’d miscalculated.”

“You’d still be giving me a job that would’ve gone to someone else.”

“Same as I did for… fuck… so many rich pricks who weren’t above asking me to get their kids jobs. Nepotism is kind of the way of the business world. It’s not the same.”

“I don’t have any qualifications.”

“I mean, yeah, you can’t help it that you’re at Caltech, but even Caltech students can bumble their way around a lab.”

“And you were hoping to get laid next week?”

“Actually, I was hoping to get laid this afternoon. If not sooner.”

“If I say yes, you have to wear a Caltech t-shirt…”

“Sure.”

“You didn’t let me finish. At work. All day. On my first day on the job and you can’t tell anyone why because it can’t come out that you’re fucking a Caltech student.”

“Still okay.” Tony laughed, but then turned serious. “You understand, it’s not just a joke though. There’s no way I can come out. There won’t be any dates or dinners out or talking about me to your friends or any of the normal quote-unquote couple things. You might say you understand, but… I haven’t had the best luck with that. I don’t want to see what the Stark PR machine would do to you… god… if it got difficult. I couldn’t stop them.” He reached out and touched Peter’s face gently. “I’m being entirely selfish. I’m very much aware of that. If there’s trouble, I’ll come out unscathed. You…” He let the obvious hang.

“Tony,” Peter took his hand and kissed his palm. “I very much doubt you’d come out unscathed.” 

Peter brought his arm around him, then leaned up to give him a kiss. Tony lengthened it and held Peter close.

“How would it work?” Peter asked after they’d both caught their breath.

“You’d go to school. You’d work.”

“There’d be any time left after that?”

“Yeah. Interns have really varied schedules and the pay is… there’s some discretion there. It wouldn’t be a street,” Tony said, quickly blocking any objections. “You’re already at the top echelon of where most interns are. A little wiggle room isn’t a street. It’s nepotism. I guarantee you we pay Obie’s nephew more than I’ll _ever_ pay you. And he’s… wow. I’d say stupid, but that would be insulting to stupid people.”

“And being with you? How would that work?”

“Happy would pick you up from wherever and bring you here. I can’t go there. I can’t control the situation there. Then he’d take you home or to work or to school when you had to leave.”

“Won’t that be suspicious too?”

Tony shrugged. “He already drives all over the place for me and brings people here for meetings or events or plenty of other reasons. And Happy is discretion personified. There are three people in my circle who would know. Happy, Pepper, and Rhodey — you haven’t met him yet. Keeping secrets from them is impossible. They look out for me. Provide cover when needed. I know it seems unfair that I have people who would know and you can’t…”

“No, it makes sense. I mean, I can tell you that my aunt would never tell, and she wouldn’t, but that’s too much exposure. I get that. I’m used to keeping a pretty big secret. No one, not even her or my closest friends, knew what kind of work I was doing.”

“Was?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Yes Tony, was. I’ll be your boyfriend in exchange for an internship like everyone else’s and one full 24 hours of you inexplicably wearing a Caltech shirt. Without covering it up. God, gotta play by genie rules with you, I know _that_ much.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Pete. You know I’m gonna catch hell for that.”

Peter grinned. “Uh huh. More than you think.”

“I somehow think I kinda lost the negotiation there.”

“I dunno… one t-shirt for one day versus this fine ass in your bed for many many more nights.”

“Hmm… gotta consider…”

“And you thought you’d get laid this afternoon?” Peter raised his eyebrows.

Tony laughed and pushed him over, crawling on top. “I said sooner.”

Peter held his hands up and stopped him from kissing him. “Tony?” He moved his hand and brushed Tony’s hair back. 

“Hmm?”

The kid closed his eyes and when they met Tony’s again, they were glistening. “You’re not the only one with inconvenient feelings.”

He wrapped his arms underneath Peter and brought them closer together. He kissed the side of his face. “Then we’ll make this work, baby.”

**Author's Note:**

> My Starker blog on tumblr is [starker-stories](https://starker-stories.tumblr.com/).  
> Come on by and visit.


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